Urgent ! Brent Jessee, Audiotubes, is closing on March 5th. Run buy something !

IME, some of the reissue tubes (like PS Vane) are darn good when compared to high-priced vintage NOS stuff. In many instances I have preferred small-signal Tung Sol and JJ reissues to $150+ Amperex and West Germany Telefunken units. If you approach tubes with the presumption that vintage is better, then that’s likely what you’ll hear. 

More than once I have paid a pretty penny to Brent Jesse only to end up with a defective tube upon arrival. I never had such issues ordering from VTS. 
 

That said, I went full solid state within the last year (inexpensive SS at that) and haven’t looked back. Most rooms are a far greater bottleneck than any decently powerful amp. 

Yes, he is always ready to discuss the matter, but if you just want to buy particular tubes he never intrudes with advice that is unasked for.

I think Brent’s lasting legacy will be his exhaustive description/impression of all the tubes he sells.

agreed - his writings on specific tube makes for hifi applications are very useful, and by and large accurate -- like that of the in/famous joe’s tube lore...  :)

b-j will be missed, wish him a happy and fulfilling retirement!

Hopefully, someone will continue his work even if not exactly at the same level.

This is sad news indeed. I’ve been buying from him for years.  I tried and got screwed by Vivatubes.  I bought three matched pairs of PSVANE Art Series 12AU7’s from them and five out of the six got noisy within days and they wouldn’t replace them.  I bought three matching sets RCA Cleartops from Brent and they’ve been working great ever since.  
 

Here’s to hoping someone takes over and is as honorable as he was.